Press Release:Corsair® Memory, the worldwide leader in design and manufacture of high performance memory, today unveiled the latest innovation in high performance module design, Dual-path Heat Xchange (DHX™) technology.This performance and reliability enhancing technology will be available in the latest memory product line from Corsair also launched today, the DHX XMS2 DOMINATOR™ Series. The advances provided by DHX enable the world’s first PC2-8888 C4 (1111MHz at CAS Latency 4) speed rating on a production pair of 1 GByte modules.

Dual-path Heat Xchange (DHX) is the world’s most advanced memory module thermal dissipation technology. This Patent Pending heat sink technology substantially increases the memory module’s thermal dissipation so that the heat generated by the RAM cells can be more efficiently removed from the module. RAMs that run at lower temperatures enjoy improved performance and extended reliability.

Effective thermal dissipation from the memory modules has been achieved via two thermally engineered heat paths. The innovative first path is through the leads of the BGA chips into the printed circuit board (PCB). When BGA devices are soldered on to a memory module, an all-metal thermal path is created from the surface of the RAM to the copper ground plane of the PCB. This thermal path provides very efficient heat removal.

The second, more typical thermal path is through the back of the BGA packages and into high-performance extruded aluminum heat sinks. Overall, the module has four heat sinks, two connected to the RAMs and two connected to the PCB. These heat sinks were designed specifically for the personal computing environment, with fins oriented both in latitudinal and longitudinal orientation to take advantage of air provided by CPU fans as well as case fans. The result is a module with superior thermal characteristics that will run cooler than a module with stamped or mesh heat spreaders, and thus have greater reliability and over-clocking capability.

The thermal design of the DOMINATOR module is optimized for the use of impinging airflow. Forced air from directly above the module can be used to further enhance the performance of the module. Corsair has developed a DOMINATOR Airflow fan which is designed to be matched with the DOMINATOR heat sinks and allow even more heat to be removed from the DHX XMS2 DOMINATOR modules. This fan unit contains three 40mm tachometer-controlled fans to provide impinging airflow to the memory subsystem. The moderate RPMs required to provide adequate forced air mean the DOMINATOR Airflow fan is nearly silent.

The DOMINATOR heat sink assemblies using DHX technology, with the addition of DOMINATOR Airflow, allows Corsair to guarantee module reliability at over 2.5 volts (2.4 volts, +/- 5%). The combination of this extended voltage and reduced operating temperature allows Corsair to offer modules guaranteed to perform at PC2-8888, or 1,111 MHz, at CAS 4 settings.

The new DHX XMS2 DOMINATOR Series and the DOMINATOR Airflow accessory will be available at retailers by the first week of September. Expected retail prices for these modules are from $600-$650 for the TWIN2X2048-8888C4DF and $380-$400 for the TWIN2X2048-8500C5D. The DOMINATOR Airflow is expected to retail for under $25.00.

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